This weekend, let’s escape to the seaside paradise of Morbihan, France, to peak inside the 19th century fortress that belonged to the eccentric, inimitable Sarah Bernhardt. As an actor, she was truly one of the first global superstars, and it was her flair for blurring the lines between performance and reality that made her an…

Sears was once the largest and most powerful retailer in the United States of America before Walmart stole the title in 1989. It first began as a mail ordering catalog company in 1892, when they started peddling watches, then expanding into hardware, furniture and nearly anything else the American household could desire, focusing business in small…

Even today, in this era of “nothing shocks us anymore”, Dalì still manages to get an eyebrow raise out of me. The man is endlessly fascinating and just when I think I’ve seen all his work, up pops another thing I never knew he did. Just this morning, I found a clip of a dream…

New York City fire fighters still use the term “a Collyer’s mansion situation” as code for a hoarder’s house fire. It usually means it’s not safe for them to enter the building. In 1947, it took police five hours to plough through the junk and find the first Collyer brother’s body. It took them three…

There’s a sleepy seaside village in France with a small fishing port, a population of less than 3,000 and some very peculiar-looking houses. At a moment’s glance, they could almost appear to be an unfortunate pod of beached orcas, but look again carefully at those unusual roofs. Yes, those are boats … upside down! Local fishermen of Équihen-Plage have lived under scavenged boat hulls here…

I feel like I have honestly jumped into my childhood storybook as the image of Snow White first coming across the little house that belongs to a group of seven dwarfs, from the Nineteenth-Century German Fairy Tale, waves through my imagination. With no one at home, she can’t help but nosey around this enchanting building with…

This is a manadatory visit when passing through Palm Springs. You can bounce on Elvis’ pink satin marital bed for heaven’s sake. Sleep in the damn thing if you so desire. They’ll even let you pose for photos inside his honeymoon tub…and UPDATE! It’s now for sale. In May 1967, Elvis returned from Las Vegas on…

Fred and Myrtle Flutey are arguably New Zealand’s most beloved couple, best-known collectors, and are certified local celebrities. On top of it all, they were also warm and generous members of their community who loved sharing their passions with all who were interested. Over 30 odd years, more than one million people have passed through…

I can’t tell you how satisfying it is to identify an uncredited viral photo from the internet. I must have come across this picture of an underground cave cottage/ hobbit house/ Flinstones shack – whatever the internet was calling it – more than a dozen times on my internet travels. It could have been located anywhere from…

Assuming that you’ve already mastered the art of IKEA furniture assemblage, here’s something to take your DIY talents to the next level. This is “France”, a tiny patriotic shed that can be virtually snapped together in 3 hours and costs $1,200, complete with three zones including the “night zone”, the communal area “day zone” and the red-coloured “heating…